Yule scrap metal theft ends with three arrests

By CASEY CORA, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Police say Nathaniel Anderson, 49, was responsible for Tuesday's burglary. Deja M. Wright, 18, was found selling the metal Wednesday morning. Richard Anderson, 29, was found selling the metal Wednesday morning.

TAMPA - The employees at Commercial Metals were asked to use their home computers to keep an eye on the scrap yard over Christmas. The plant has been the target of scrap metal thieves for years.

Right before plant manager Coulter James sat down to his traditional honey-baked ham and potato salad on Christmas night, his phone rang.

Someone was in the yard, the caller said, carting away about 300 pounds of stainless steel pipes in a wheelbarrow.

The next morning, police arrested the trio they say is responsible for stealing scrap metal from the plant, located at 1900 N 62nd St., and reselling the valuable metals for cash.

Arrested were Nathaniel Anderson, 49, Richard Anderson, 29, and Deja M. Wright, 18.

Police say Nathaniel Anderson was responsible for Tuesday's burglary. Richard Anderson and Wright were found selling the metal Wednesday morning.

James credited investigators for good police work, but said the trio arrested Wednesday was only a fraction of the players involved in the burgeoning criminal enterprise of scrap metal thefts.

"As soon as we lock up this guy, it will be five more behind him," he said.

James said the company has installed "well over $100,000" in security equipment, including fences, razor wire and the high-tech surveillance system that led to Wednesday's arrest.

But there are "chinks in the armor," James said. Thieves cut through fencing. They hide in rail cars on the nearby train tracks. Sometimes, he said, they drive directly on the tracks for access to the fence.

Inside, they make off with metals that can fetch up to two or three dollars per pound.

"These guys make a nice living," James said. "In two or three hours they can make three, four hundred dollars."

[Last modified December 27, 2007, 22:49:44]